On View
Not on viewObject number1967/8.37
White Writing
Artist
Mark Tobey
(American, 1890-1976)
Date1965
Mediumgouache on paper
Dimensionsframe: 33 × 27 1/4 × 1 1/4 in. (83.8 × 69.2 × 3.2 cm)
image: 26 1/2 × 20 3/4 in. (67.3 × 52.7 cm)
image: 26 1/2 × 20 3/4 in. (67.3 × 52.7 cm)
Credit LineGift of Mr. & Mrs. Donald S. Gilmore in memory of Blanche Hull
Exhibition History"Contemporary American Landscapes," Lansing Community College (Oct. 11 - Nov. 13, 1970).
"Modern Masters from the KIA Permanent Collection," Saginaw Art Museum (Nov. 12 - Dec. 5, 1993), Rankin Center Fine Art Gallery, Ferris State University (Jan. - Feb. 1994).
"70 Years, 70 Works from the KIA Permanent Collection," KIA (Nov. 19, 1994 - Feb. 10, 1995).
"Masterworks from the KIA Permanent Collection," Dennos Museum Center (Mar. 1997 - Feb. 1998); Midland Center for the Arts (Apr. - July, 1998).
Unknown Exhibition from KIA Permanent Collection, Art Center of Battle Creek (Jan. 22 - Mar. 28, 2001).
"Lasting Legacy: A Collection for Kalamazoo," Kalamazoo Institute of Arts, Kalamazoo, Michigan (Sep. 6, 2014 - Jan. 4, 2015).Label TextThe vitality and rhythm of Tobey’s "white writing" move the viewer’s eye across the composition. Like some other Abstract Expressionist artists, the dense indecipherability of his “all-over” style invited new kinds of contemplation and visual exploration of the art object by denying viewers the opportunity to perceive depth or illusionistic space. However, unlike many of his peers, Tobey did not consider his work to be instinctual or “automatic” – instead, he argued that his paintings were the product of great deliberation and careful planning. Tobey had a passionate conviction concerning the significance of space, of the void—not as a vacuum, but as something filled or charged with energy. In paintings like White Writing, what first seems like a decorative screen becomes, up close, a battleground of forces that extend beyond the edges of the painting – a sign of the mystical meaning that Tobey sought to convey in his work.
Tobey lived far from New York’s art scene in the Pacific Northwest. Along with that of peers Guy Anderson, Kenneth Callahan, and Morris Graves, his work was celebrated beginning in the 1950s as representative of a distinct “Northwest School” that focused on the unique topographical and cultural characteristics of the region, including the influence of Asian cultures in cities like Seattle. Tobey’s introspective, meditative works are influenced by his Bahá’í faith and study of Zen Buddhism. Featuring complex networks of fine white lines, his “white writing” paintings and prints were inspired by visits to East Asia, where he was exposed to Chinese and Japanese calligraphy. Learning about these traditions helped Tobey focus on the expressive potential of pure brushwork in a single color, helping him to explore abstraction in different ways than many of his American and European peers, whose works were often more focused on depth rather than line.
